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| July 6, 2003 |
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So we had a huge storm and took a lightning
strike. It fried the router, switch, and the NIC on Susan's PC.
What a bummer. Yes, all equipment was plugged into surge suppressors.
Was the Coax cable into the router and the Cat 5 cable feeding the switch
and PC's plugged into a surge suppressor? No!!! Router, switch, and NIC easily replaced. But could Susan's PC connect to the internet? Yes and No. It could ping IP numbers and access other computers on our home network but could not connect to the internet, i.e., no Netscape, e-mail or Instant messaging. After a week, thanks to advice from DSLREPORTS, the problem was solved by removing New Net software. Why the new NIC and this nefarious software interacted to block internet access is complex. Fortunately, everything is now back to normal. Now to buy Steve's "off to college PC".
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| June 15, 2003 |
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Susan is now an official server at Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen. To see pictures of her heading off to work, click here. |
| May 23, 2003 |
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Steve's band, "Save35", played a basement show in the Mura basement on Friday, May 23rd, 2003. Steve arranged for four bands to play......all were entertaining. "Saraphine" closed. This band has been on tour recently and was really outstanding. Everyone wonder "How did Steve got them to play in his basement". Approximately, 75 people were at the show at various times, which is really a lot for a basement concert. Photos of "Save35" playing at the show can be viewed by clicking here. |
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| May 17, 2003 |
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Susan
graduated from University of Wisconsin at Madison on Saturday, May 17, 2003.
She has a double major, psychology and social welfare. This was the 150th
commencement held at Madison. Steve, Linda, and Larry drove up for the
day. We had lunch with her roommates and families at her old
apartment.
Commencement was a stirring event. The "Charge to the Graduates" presented by Jerry Zucker, filmmaker and UW-Madison graduate was the best commencement speech anyone could remember hearing. Susan did have tears in her eyes as the graduates sang "Varsity" at the end of commencement. After the ceremony, we had a beer at the lake with many of her friends and their families and then out to dinner. Click here for pictures from the day in Madison. So Susan has moved back home. We changed the decor of her room from 6th grade to graduate student. She will be attending the University of Chicago in the fall. This summer Sue will be working as a server at Pappadeaux Seafood Kitchen in Westmont. She is in training which means study, study study.......and she thought she had graduated. |
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Wi-Fi is here |
Our
wireless network is up and running. I plugged a D-Link wireless router
into our Ethernet, disabled the router (deactivated DHCP), assigned it a
fixed IP address and the Access Point worked. Reception has been
outstanding. We are looking forward to warmer weather so we can use
out laptops outside on the front porch or on the deck. (Wireless
routers are cheaper than simple Access Points, so we now have an Access
Point along with a switch with four Ethernet ports). We created a central wiring closet. Moved the modem, Netgear Router and D-Link switch to the closet. Six RJ-45 plugs (Cat 5 cable) are fed from here, with three each on the second and first floors. The D-Link router provides four additional RJ-45 outlets on the first floor, if needed. Now have two laptops on the wireless network and three desktop computers hardwired to the Ethernet, with a fourth coming as Steve's graduation present. File sharing between the Ethernet linked computers has been great. Wireless file sharing is obviously slower but still satisfactory for small stuff. Signal strength has been fine with the laptops, usable on the front porch and back deck. Ethernet access has been great with all the computers. |
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Congratulations Linda |
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Congratulations Linda......elected Chair of the Purdue University (Calumet Campus) Faculty Senate for the 2003/4 academic year. |
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Road Trip |
Steve to Canada | Steve and John (the drummer in Save35) drove to Canada to visit Tom on March 23rd. He attends a boarding school near Toronto where he is majoring in hockey. The trip went very well. See pictures from the trip by clicking here. |
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Road Trip |
Larry, Linda, and Susan to Kansas City | On March 16th, we drove to Kansas City to visit with Grama Mura. On Tuesday we drove through old neighborhoods and saw the homes in which Larry was raised. The highlight was visiting the home on Lydia where Grama Mura was raised. Susan took her through the house which had changed little since the 1930's. Click here for pictures from the trip. |
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Save35 |
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Steve must feel that you can never have too many bands. He has formed a new band--Save 35. This winter the band has been practicing in our basement. They have nice sound and, surprisingly, the noise has not bothered us at all. Click here for pictures from their practices. Note our fine basement in the backgrounds. What you can't see are the pool table, couches and TV which have provided many teenagers with a hangout for eight years. Sad to have it end. |
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King of Hearts----February 29, 2003 |
Steve attended his last high school dance on Saturday. All that is left is prom. The Western Springs dance tradition is to have pictures at one house followed by the dance, out to dinner ending (more recently) with a coed sleepover. This year Steve and Nika planned on breaking tradition by having dinner first..........but then ended up having dinner late at their favorite restaurant---The Melting Pot. Click here for pictures. Don't they look great! | |
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Susan------February 27, 2003 |
Susan was accepted into the Graduate School of Social Services Administration at the University of Chicago with a partial scholarship. She and we are very excited. Looks like she may be returning to the Chicago area for graduate school in the fall. Larry drove up to Madison on Thursday to pick her up for a weekend visit to Western Springs and the letter from U of C was in her mailbox. She opened it in the car as they pulled out of Madison....fun. Can you believe Susan is a senior in College. To view pictures of the College senior click here. | |
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Steve's Concert |
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Steve promoted a concert on January 3rd, 2003 at the Western Springs VFW Hall. Five bands, including SuperHeroRejects, were committed to performing that night. Steve raised the money to rent the hall, booked the bands, and did all the promotion. His goal was to just break even. However, there was a huge turnout...well over 250 people had a great time that evening...along with a few parents who came to take pictures. All the bands shared in the profits and said "Good Job Steve" as they left the Hall with their cut. You can see pictures of Steve and SuperHeroRejects having a great time here |
